Ablation of body tissue, using multiple electrodes, is known in the art. The ablation is typically performed by applying alternating currents to the electrodes, at a sufficient power to cause the ablation. Typically, the electrodes are mounted on a distal tip of a catheter which is inserted into a lumen of a subject.
The distal tip may be tracked in a number of different ways known in the art, for example by measuring magnetic fields, generated by coils external to the subject, at the distal tip.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,931,835 to Mackey, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes a radio frequency energy delivery system for multipolar electrode catheters. The disclosure states that the electrodes may be simultaneously energized in phase with each other to achieve a desired lesion pattern.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,782,828 to Chen, et al., whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes an ablation catheter having multiple electrodes and a close-loop control mechanism for each electrode with a temperature sensor.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,468,062 to Oral, et al., whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes an atrial ablation catheter with an electrode array.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,027,500 to Buckles, et al., whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes a catheter with a plurality of electrodes disposed adjacent to a distal end of the probe. One of the electrodes is an ablation electrode.
U.S. Patent Application 2003/0130711 to Pearson, et al., whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes apparatus for carrying out thermal ablation of target tissue. The apparatus includes a radio-frequency ablation device having a multi-electrode electrode assembly.
U.S. Patent Application 2008/0058635 to Halperin, et al., whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes a magnetic resonance imaging system including an invasive combined electrophysiology and imaging antenna catheter having diagnostic electrodes for receiving electrical potentials.
The description above is presented as a general overview of related art in this field and should not be construed as an admission that any of the information it contains constitutes prior art against the present patent application.